1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automatic analyzer for use in clinical examination to perform qualitative and quantitative analysis of living body samples, such as blood and urine. More particularly, the present invention relates to an automatic analyzer for use with reagent bottles having seals attached to bottle openings, which are pierced at the start of analysis using the reagent bottles.
2. Description of the Related Art
Two types of reagent bottles are mainly used in an automatic analyzer, i.e., a capped reagent bottle which is set in the automatic analyzer by an operator at the start of analysis after removing the cap, and a reagent bottle with a seal which is made of plastic, for example, is attached to a bottle opening to prevent evaporation and deterioration of the reagent, and is ripped by an operator before the start of analysis. When using the latter type of reagent bottle, it is general that the reagent bottle is set in the automatic analyzer by the operator after ripping the seal with a dedicated cutter, a punch or the like. On the other hand, various methods are also proposed so far for automatically piercing the seal by the analyzer itself when the reagent bottle is set in the analyzer. Patent Document 1 (JP, A 11-183484) discloses a method of piercing a seal by a disposable tip which is fitted to a fore end of a reagent sampling nozzle (arm) and which has a fore end formed into a shape capable of piercing the seal.